


Echope's Letters Home

by EchopeKallistee



Series: Echope's Struggles [2]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Demisexuality, F/M, Letters, Sensory overload/meltdown
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:33:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24417433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchopeKallistee/pseuds/EchopeKallistee
Summary: Echope writes home. Most of these will be letters TO her family, although some will be letters FROM her mother and sister. Quinn's reactions will be there, although he won't be able to interact with the letters the way he does with the "crystal memories" in my main ficPart of the reason for the slow burn with Echope and Malavai's romance is my head-canon is that BOTH of them are demisexual, and somehow they are the "right" mental fit for each other. I also have a head-canon that many Force-users are autistic but that is something that both the Republic and Empire don't have a diagnostic protocol for.
Relationships: Broonmark & Female Sith Warrior, Female Sith Warrior & Jaesa Willsaam, Female Sith Warrior & Vette, Lt. Pierce & Female Sith Warrior, Malavai Quinn/Female Sith Warrior
Series: Echope's Struggles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1763305
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Right before the assault on the Balmorran Arms Factory, and the Sith Warrior killing Commander Rylon -- although the second mission is pointedly NOT described in the letter.

Malavai Quinn was going through the captain’s cabin of the _Two Spears Ascending_ he had shared with his wife during his search for Echope after her disappearance during the first battle with what he now knew was the Empire of Zakuul. He was not certain what he was looking for, just that he felt there was SOMETHING – there just had to be. In a display of traditional Sith Pureblood weaponry that Echope had practiced with from time to time, there was an ancient warblade that drew his eye.

There were crystals on the sheath which reminded him of data crystals. But why would Echope have put crystals there? What were they? Malavai gently pulled one out of its housing, paying attention to how it would be put back so that it would not be noticed by someone else, and hopefully overlooked by people looking for something to use against him now that Minister Beniko of Sith Intelligence had disappeared and his approval for his mission was in doubt. Malavai took the crystal and inserted it into the reader port on his datapad. He was startled about what came on the screen……

_“Marsah, I’m writing to you from my first assignment away from Dromund Kaas for my new “Master” Darth Baras. He is everything that you cautioned me to be wary of in the Sith Order that developed after Darth Vitiate of Medriaas (later Nathema) became the Sith Emperor. I will not discuss my mission, even in this letter. But, where I have been sent (Balmorra) is not classified, and I have full rein to assist other Imperial operations while I’m on planet – so I will tell you about those._

_“Not to mention, Darth Baras’ on-planet liaison is AMAZINGLY easy on the eyes. If you remember Xalexnder from home, you will have a rough idea of how Lieutenant Malavai Quinn looks. However, Xalexnder, although I had a fling with him at the Sith Preparatory Academy before I was summoned to Korriban doesn’t have the same “pull” in the Force that Lt. Quinn has for me. And, Xal has much longer hair that said Lieutenant has and Xal has the gold eyes of the Red Sith along with both of them sharing space-black hair (which, confidentially marsah, I find incredibly attractive – something I’m trying not to let Baras find out)._

_“Lt. Quinn is also someone who is very useful when I’m helping with Imperial operations other than Lord Baras’ assignment. He’s the longest serving officer on Balmorra, and Vette has managed to dig up that the REASON for that fact is due to someone high in the military hierarchy systematically blocking his promotions every time his name comes up for one. We estimate that if that hadn’t been happening, he might have made Major or even Commander by now because he is VERY good at his work. I wish I could find a way to take him with us after we left – although, given the way the Imperial military works, it’s extremely unlikely that I would be able to pull it off as a mere apprentice Sith, no matter what other benefits that rank has in the Empire at large considering who my ‘Master’ is._

_“Well, this letter is getting long, write back with how the legal adoption of Vette into our clan is coming. I want to surprise her with that for Life Day seeing as how her Imperial citizenship is currently being processed with me as her sponsor. Having a wealthy legal family to back her up while she searches for her biological family will help her a lot. (That reminds me, when we find her biological family, can they be adopted as well? I think Vette would like that) Vette has become as much of a sister to me as Achana. She has the same joyful outlook on life, and I don’t want that to ever be dimmed if I can help it.  
“Well, I need to wrap this letter up. Tomorrow, Vette and I have to find our way into the main arms factory here. The Dark Council sent Darth Lachris to become the new Governor of Balmorra and the Balmorran rebels, along with the Galactic ‘Republic’, have used that arms factory as their main base of operations for some time. The two of us are going to be one of several small strike teams going in to bring their barriers down and hopefully capture the ‘retired’ Republic Grand Marshal Cheketta so that we can expose the Republic’s illegal involvement in a planet that the Empire won in the last war ceded to us by the Treaty of Coruscant. After that, Vette and I will hopefully also have our mission on Balmorra for Darth Baras completed and will be able to leave this benighted warzone._

_With much love,_

_Your Eldest Daughter_

_Echope, Apprentice to Darth Baras”_

Malavai saw that there were many more files like this on the crystal, although not all of them had the signature he associated with Echope. Were they replies? He decided he’d save them for later, treasuring these glimpses into the inner life of his wife – even from before the time she was his wife. He felt humbled that she had wanted him to transfer to her ship before he had the option to do so. He vowed to keep up the search, day by day, as he was trying to find a place to dock the Spears and acquire a secondary ship that would be less traceable when the inevitable order to end the search came from someone who did not know his mission had the imprimatur of two (now missing) Dark Council members, Vowrawn and Nox. He felt the tightening of the noose even now……


	2. The Second Letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second letter -- between Balmorra and Nar Shaddaa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope to have the next letter up soon, covering things DURING the events of Nar Shaddaa

Almost a tenday passed before Malavai could bring himself to read the next letter on the crystal that Echope had sent home. He still couldn’t completely shake the sense that he was treading on holy ground, and that he was an infidel.

_“Marsah, I’m writing to you in the aftermath of the assault on the Balmorran Arms Factory. I can see why you hoped when I was young that I would never have to participate in the backbiting and betrayal that was at the core of the current incarnation of the Sith Empire. Darth Baras had me assigned to eliminate Commander Rylon – one of the most decorated Republic/Balmorran leaders. What wasn’t public knowledge (and still isn’t) is that Rylon had been one of Darth Baras’ hidden operatives – placed within the Republic Military both to keep an eye on what the enemy is doing since the Treaty of Coruscant and to compile Intelligence from Baras’ other, lesser agents in the Core Worlds to be sent on to Dromund Kaas. I feel heartsick about having to remove a loyal soldier of the Empire from his post because of the fear of a Darth of being “exposed” by a Jedi Padawan._

_“(That reminds me, Marsah, didn’t the Je’daii at one time call the equivalent of their Acolyte students Padawans? Why did the Jedi keep that and not the understanding of the Bendu needing both Ashla AND Bogan? What caused them to deny that truth about all races and attempt to destroy the Red Sith of Korriban, thinking of us AS A SPECIES to be irredeemably tainted when the Je'daii they were an offshoot of had Red Sith members? Somehow, we need to contact one of the other Je’daii enclaves in the Republic to see if they can find out why, now that the Jedi are back on the Je’daii homeworld of Tython,)_

_“But, back to other news, I’m glad to be away from Balmorra. The Force there is being distorted by the near constant war. If it was a world naturally strong in the Force, it would probably be experiencing the same near-constant Force-storms that Dromund Kaas does. I have a theory that Kaas is not naturally a Bogan-rich world the same way that Korriban is, but that is not something I can do research on because of the presence of the Dark Temple and other rumored sanctuaries of Emperor Vitiate (I will not call him Sith’ari, as he may be the ruler of the Empire – even above the Dark Council, where my master’s master sits, but did not earn his seat in ritual combat the way that Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, or Tulak Hord did – in the time-honored way the Dark Lords of the Sith from the time of Sith’ari Ada earned that title)._

_“But, on the subject of Balmorra, remember the dark-haired Lieutenant Malavai Quinn I mentioned the last time I wrote? He is now assigned to my ship, the Two Spears Ascending, as part of my crew. Based on his service record he is a master-rated marksman, along with being trained both as a pilot and even as a field medic. His help with my main mission on Balmorra, as well as the information his contacts helped me glean about other Republic intrusions, was invaluable. I will say when he came to my hanger to ask permission to become part of my crew, I was startled. He **knelt to pledge himself to me** in what was almost a ceremonial way. He also has a remarkable way of not impinging on my senses, being almost spookily quiet, both on foot AND in the Force. When I checked his family records, it indicated that he had a sister and cousin that were taken for Force-training as children in the Force Academy on Dromund Kaas before being sent for final training to Korriban, so he may have a degree of sensitivity himself. I’ll have to send a medical readout on him to you soon._

__

“THAT will probably have to wait until after we go to Nar Shaddaa on the next leg of Darth Baras’ assignment. I will probably bring him on the missions as I owe Vette at LEAST several days off-time at the Star Cluster casino’s gaming tables. It’s during what the Hutts call Souvada (I’m not sure what that means in Huttese so don’t ask me to translate.) I don’t think that I’m going to be as fond of Nar Shaddaa as Vette seems to be, however. I’m in agreement with Lt. Quinn that it’s got something about it that just feels wrong. It’s almost an aftertaste, in some ways. As with my last letter, I won’t go into any details prior to the assignment – and maybe not even afterwards.

_“Give my best to Achana as she prepares for her chance to come to the Korriban Academy. Given that she will already be claimed as an apprentice, hopefully she will not have to face “quite” the same level of competition I did when I was there. She should like some of the small tea-shops in Dresdae and some of the traditional Sith herbalists in residence there. The traditional healing crafts have always seemed to be where she’s drawn to and I think that she should also train with Mother Erian when she returns because her basically gentle nature might probably lend itself to mind-healing._

_“Anyhow, I will probably be on Nar Shaddaa for three or four ten-days so when Vette’s adoption datawork finally comes through, you can probably transmit it to me there. I might surprise her with it when it is finalized._

_  
_

_With much love,_

_Your Eldest Daughter_

_Echope, Apprentice to Darth Baras”_

Malavai sat back, remembering that fateful day in the hanger on Balmorra when he knelt to pledge himself to Echope. He remembered also the way that the Fury-class Interceptor _Two-Spears Ascending_ had felt like it was “welcoming him home” and wondering if there was something there. It seems like there had been something there, even then, even before his relationship with his wife had begun – before their relationship had changed from merely that of a Sith and her Captain, but something more. Placing the crystal back in place, he resolved to contact Echope’s mother and visit his twins.


	3. Third Letter -- Midway through Nar Shaddaa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About half-way through the events of Nar Shaddaa  
> (I'm referencing Souvada and the Feast of Prosperity in this one)

As Malavai’s search for his Lord and Love, Echope the Empire’s Wrath continued, he came to keep his wife’s message crystal on his person the way he kept the special crystal and reader she had used to record her journals from even before she had met Vette. He knew that if things in the Empire continued the same way against the Eternal Empire, that he would eventually be given the one order that he could not obey, because his marriage-oath overrode it. He knew that he would one day be told to give up the search and only hoped that if he was arrested for not doing so, that he would be allowed to keep what would appear to be “useless” crystals, crystals that for him were the one thing keeping him sane and connected with Echope while she remained missing.

He had read about her on Balmorra and just afterwards, on the way to Nar Shaddaa to eliminate the second of Darth Baras’ agents. Again, he assembled the parts of the reader that he knew he would be able to hide in the prosthesis he had earned on Makeb when Echope had saved the planet and the Isotope-5 for the Empire. It had been there that his left hand had been ruined by a prototype Isotope-5 war droid in Stronghold. His hand had been burned off by its laser cannon while he and his Lord were unleashing lava on it in order to burn through its shielding so Echope could defeat it. It was also in the hollow of his lower arm that he now hid the crystals. He would read her third letter home and remember the early days once more.

_Dear Marsah, I am so glad that the adoption papers for Vette have finally come through. I am planning on telling her later today at a celebratory splurge at the Club Vertica casino. During Souvada, the Hutts offer private dining areas for their more important guests. I’ve made enough of an impression with them that they are treating me like a Sith Lord instead of a “mere” Apprentice. Darth Baras would likely approve of this treatment, even though he considers the Smuggler’s Moon a pestilence on the galaxy. The Hutts themselves are a collection of what are known as “Kajidics” which is used not only for clans of related individuals, but businesses and even criminal enterprises. I was even approached by two Hutts named Duuba and Gaboorga asking for donations to a new charitable venture that they were calling the “Feast of Prosperity”._

_Duuba is one who the Force tells me to support instead of Gaboorga, who strikes me as having more typical motivations for Hutts, while Duuba seems to be genuine in his desires to help people. Malavai suggested Gaboorga because he feels that becoming known by rich and powerful donors would be valuable. I countered that it would look suspicious to my superiors in the Sith Order because even though my family had been sending candidates for the Sith to the various academies (both Dromund Kaas, and later Korriban) since the founding of our current Empire, we had always been known for our family not being extravagant. Vette even commented that I needed to shop for “better” formal robes, but I was more concerned that my crew was properly paid._

_I will make certain to send you her reaction to the paperwork when she gets it._

_Much Love,_

_Your Eldest daughter, Echope_


End file.
